Muscle Memory

[flow]

Okay, I'm wondering if this is just me or if others are plagued with this problem as well.. I have almost zero muscle memory. I've played basketball my entire life yet my form for my shot is slightly different every single time. No two of my signatures are alike. I can't seem to do anything 'instinctively', idk why. I guess my hypothesis is that muscle memory has something to do with sensing, which I am absolutely terrible at. Who knows. Anyone else?

 

[Scourgexlvii]

Yeah... I stopped learning guitar for this very reason, because I couldn't switch chords quick enough, and would always have to check my hand position every time I switched. Also, my signatures are always different, because I never bother to implant any form of muscle memory of it, except for my characteristic way of making my "A"s, and the rest are just scribbles that seem to look like letters, only if you concentrate on them hard enough.

 

[shoeless]

probably why i suck so much at playing piano.

 

[Toad]

What about typing? You guys can type right?

 

[shoeless]

touche.

i probably suck at playing piano because i'm self-taught and rarely practice.

but this theory is so much more comforting!

 

[flow]

Yeah I'm an excellent typer once my fingers are in the home position or whatever it's callled. But if I'm blindly looking for one letter in the dark I forget where it is.. weird. Obviously we all have some capacity for muscle memory, but in my case my capacity seems uncannily low.

 

[Ashenstar]

I'm actually pretty decent with muscle memory. It's important for playing the violin
That's really all I have to say on this topic I guess. woohoo for me I suppose. lol

*goes off to google muscle memory*

 

[Dark_Amphibian]

Muscle memory is one of my best traits, and incredibly lasting. That said, I prefer a very structured approach to learning and have to repeat the series of moves without variation before it sticks and before I can begin adding in variations.

 

[Scourgexlvii]

What about typing? You guys can type right?

True, but I'm rather slow at it, and I don't type so-called "correctly"

 

[Cogwulf]

I have excellent muscle memory, but it takes me a very long time to get there. I used to play keyboard but haven't played a keyboard or piano properly for ages, but I could still play with my eyes closed if I tried.
I've been doing archery for a few months now, when I first started I was better than most of the people who started at the same time, at that time none of us had any muscle memory developed, now I'm behind a lot of people as they're all beginning to be able to replicate their shots with good consistency but I'm still guessing the position of my arms. Based on past experience I predict I'll be better than most of them in perhaps a years time

 

[sagewolf]

My muscle memory is actually pretty good. I type well without looking at the keyboard, although I never learned to do it properly, with my fingers on the right keys and with economy of movement and effort and all that, although I try to teach myself. It's not going so well, just because I keep reverting to my way when I get tired of going so slowly. Never played a guitar or piano, but I did play trumpet (still can, I suppose, but...). I haven't played in months because I don't actually have my instrument with me here, but I can still finger all the scales without thinking about which notes are in them. If I think about it, I actually start to mess up. I suppose that means they're all muscle memory.

 

[Deleted member 1424]

My muscle memory is far superior to my memory of events. DDR is essentially all muscles memory, and I played almost daily as a kid. The year I spent in kung fu also had a profound effect on me; my reflexes and my awareness of my body and surroundings improved dramatically.

There have been a several occasions where people have tried to sneak up on me and I reacted by going into a set of movements I'd learned. I hurt them before I could consciously recognized them. I always felt guilty afterward, but it's not really something I can control. Even if I'm completely comfortable and at rest my body will just reacts that way on it's own now.

So if we ever meet in person, don't try to sneak up on me!

 

[CodeOmega0]

Oh, totally. I loved DDR, mostly because I get into a mindset of "zen" where I just... play.
I stop thinking, and just do what the notes say. It's quite fun.
It has happened to me at work as well, at Chick Fil A, while taking people's orders. The way the system is set up right now, all I have to do is punch in the order that someone else who works there reads off a card. Once I get into this zone of working, it's almost all muscle memory, from making drinks to punching in orders.
I find myself not being able to talk in these situations, and it's quite amusing. I still have full control of all of my limbs, but something about talking just takes me a couple seconds before I can form words.

TOPIC: Muscle Memory. Yes. I have it. I need it to do my job.

 

[420MuNkEy]

My muscle memory is very strange. It's there, but it seems to fade the more I'm consciously aware I'm doing something. For example, say I learn how to play a song one day, and the next day I go to play it again. I'm more likely to play it accurately the first time I play it on the 2nd day than the fifth time I try. I think this might have something to do with thinking overwhelming intuition. Trying to commit something to muscle memory like this is very difficult, as in order to get it accurate, each time it's repeated has to seem as if it's the first.

 

[Cogwulf]

Thinking completely overrides my muscle memory, I need to completely empty my mind to do well at certain things

 

[420MuNkEy]

Thinking completely overrides my muscle memory, I need to completely empty my mind to do well at certain things

An INTP with an empty mind?!

 

[Firehazard159]

My muscle memory is far superior to my memory of events. DDR is essentially all muscles memory, and I played almost daily as a kid. The year I spent in kung fu also had a profound effect on me; my reflexes and my awareness of my body and surroundings improved dramatically.

There have been a several occasions where people have tried to sneak up on me and I reacted by going into a set of movements I'd learned. I hurt them before I could consciously recognized them. I always felt guilty afterward, but it's not really something I can control. Even if I'm completely comfortable and at rest my body will just reacts that way on it's own now.

So if we ever meet in person, don't try to sneak up on me!

I'm so gonna sneak up on you. And my tae kwon do will out match your kung fu! Plus raw strength

Anyway, I've got excellent muscle memory, and spatial visualization. It's always been a focus of mine though. I picked up my euphonium which had sat for 2-3 years not being played, and was able to run through most the scales from memory / muscle memory with ease (God that killed my lips though XD).

I also play DDR regularly ^_^ Great game.

I've said before, I'm highly kinesthetic, I love how muscle looks, I try to keep my body somewhat sculpted because I love being able to watch the flow of muscle when going from one position to another, whether yoga, a martial art, or just working out. Makes me a bit of a narcissist, I suppose

I type at about 80-110 wpm, depending what I'm doing and what not, average around 90 while keeping a steady 98% accuracy or so, my muscle memory all around is great.

 

[Tunesimah]

I'm okay with Muscle Memory, but it's inconsistent. It takes me a long time to get it into memory but once there it sticks pretty well.

The best example is probably a musical instrument. I can go along learning the instrument, slowly building up the required muscle memory. But despite my best efforts I'll make mistakes, I know how to play... and for the most part I'll play okay but I'll move my fingers wrong... slip drop, something. Mentally I'm so concerned with playing it right, that I don't move into the more 'expressive' side of paying.... whatever that means.

What's good though is that if I don't play for a couple of months and pick it back up I'll have about 95% of my previous skill. So I have a slow learning curve, but I rarely lose any of it... which is pretty cool.

My internal sense of how to control these objects is always wrong it seems... my muscles just don't work normal. I don't have an innate proper technique. I usually say to hell with proper technique and just have fun anyways.

 

[Deleted member 1424]

@fire

My Kung Fu Is Stronger Than Yours

 

[JimTaylor]

I have the same problem with signatures, not sports. I have been playing basketball and football since I was 4 1/2, but my shot has evolved in basketball over the years. My shot is pretty consistent though, when I am just shooting by myself but when acctually playing in a game it is the same if I am open, but otherwise it might change. I am also pretty good at typing, even in the dark.

 

[Causeless]

My muscle memory is far superior to my memory of events. DDR is essentially all muscles memory, and I played almost daily as a kid. The year I spent in kung fu also had a profound effect on me; my reflexes and my awareness of my body and surroundings improved dramatically.

There have been a several occasions where people have tried to sneak up on me and I reacted by going into a set of movements I'd learned. I hurt them before I could consciously recognized them. I always felt guilty afterward, but it's not really something I can control. Even if I'm completely comfortable and at rest my body will just reacts that way on it's own now.

So if we ever meet in person, don't try to sneak up on me!

Interesting story that relates somewhat... maybe...

My friend for years and current roommate always used to hang out in our garage in his old place. We'd smoke, talk, play cards, goof off, that sort of thing.

This friend of mine has been trained in hand to hand combat most of his life, doesn't look overly strong in person, but I would NOT want to end up on the other end of any sort of fight with him. (Thankfully, that would never happen.) This was the sort of dude who, in high school, joined our wrestling team, took the heavyweight spot (Wrestling up a few classes in the process), and proceeded undefeated, pinning most of his far larger opponents within the first round. Needless to say, his general speed, agility, strength, and physical perception are a great deal better than mine.

Anyway, goofing off one night, sitting across from each other, he held a stick out and asked me to grab it from him. I flailed at it a few times and he jerked it away effortlessly. It irked me a little bit, so I decided to actually concentrate and see if I could actually take it.

I must have sat there and built my focus on my hand and the stick for a good 60 seconds, dead still, but I ended up grabbing the stick before I knew it was in my hand. He didn't even start to move it away; said it was the fastest he's seen someones hand move.

 

[Cavallier]

I have really good muscle memory. The only time I have issues is if my brain gets in the way. In order to combat this I have to make myself think of something else while nudging my body into performing the task needed. Put my hand on a key pad and I'll be able to put in my security code for work every time. Ask me to tell you what my code is and I'll draw a blank every time.

 

[echoplex]

I always think mine is good until I'm in a familiar house and I'm still accidentally kicking and bumping into things. What's fun is when you think you're about to leave the bathroom and your arm somehow hits a shelf, sending various things falling, some into the toilet. It's also fun fishing those things out of the toilet.

Seriously, people like me weren't meant to live in houses.

 

[Nicholas A. A. E.]

I've got pretty good muscle memory I think. I perform certain routine actions (e.g., opening a door, turning on the light, closing it behind me) more rapidly, consistently, and smoothly than most people. It's something I've consciously considered and modified in myself. I'd be able to dance pretty well if I could get over the two hurdles of (1) actually going out to practice, and (2) being creative in stringing moves together, but I'm pretty good at the fundamentals of dancing in general, like balance, sense of tempo, and tension. Maybe I've kidna diverged from the topic of muscle memory. Eh.

 

[Cavallier]

Maybe I've kidna diverged from the topic of muscle memory. Eh.

No. I think it relates.

 

[North Star]

Hi, first post here after being referred to this place by a personality test page (Typelogic if you care to know). My typing is pretty damn good, and I was told by an aunt that I was very good at getting a tune out of random little toy instruments that were bought for me as a kid. However, I'm clumsy as hell: I'm often told that I look 'drunk' when I walk and I remember every PE day, myself and another kid with severe motion difficulties (caused by an imbalance in his hearing) being the last ones picked for the team. Every time.

It's interesting for me to read this though, cos I'm sick to death of my job as a sales assistant and, having moved back to the family home from London a couple of years ago, I'm finally getting real and thinking about returning to education. Thing is, I've always loved the arts but hated the way in which you must abandon contemplation and start feeling what you do in order to develop technical skill. I was always that kid whose illustrations drew all the gasps, but the only thing I'm passionate about now (as an admirer, not a practitioner) is music. Maybe there's a systemising thing there which is apparently a leaning of my type.

I'd love to learn piano seriously if I could be sixteen again, but I fret that it's silly to bother now I'm in my thirties. That said, I have fingers the length and taper of which would turn Rachmaninov green. Of those of you here who play instruments, did you find that your personality helped or hindered you in developing skill? And do you find that entirely different things are required between a musician and a composer?

 

[shwaggetyshfifty]

this is pretty much the case with everything but musical instruments. gifted-musicianship sorta runs in my family in a recessive manner.

 

[Dormouse]

I have no memory whatsoever. Of any kind. So... yeah.

 

[snafupants]

i am typing this with my eyes closed right now this is fun here i go [eyes opened] that took about 3 seconds to type. i think the qs and xs would be harder because they are set off and unfamiliar.

 

[hope]

I have weak fine motor skills and alright muscle memory. By weak fine motor skills I mean my handwriting is messy(i type everything). Luckily my muscle memory is not that bad. I play tennis, soccer, hockey, ping-pong, basketball, and I kayak. So, I play sports, but which ones am i good at? I'm a good tennis player,ping pong player and hockey player.
Audiophile- Are you good at basketball even though you take a different shot everytime? (its possible) Audiophile-- you're putting too much stock in the MBTI if you think your personality type determines your athletic ability.

 

[flow]

Now speaking as Audiophile:

Yes, I am actually quite good at basketball (and tennis/ping pong as well). I have very quick reactions, and I'm creative/athletic enough to make up for my inconsistent technique.

And I'm not saying anything about ability (as far as MBTI goes), I'm talking about technique and memory.